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Thirty-five years ago, my husband, Phil, and I spent our honeymoon in England, Europe and Greece. Besides a celebration of our marriage, it was a genealogy trip. Phil has been tracing family history for more than 40 years. He loves it! That’s how I know Phil and I are 14th cousins, which explains the twitch that both of our children have … just kidding — about the twitch, I mean.

For the first time in 10 years, Colorado is generating enough tax revenue that the spending limitations in the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights are set to kick in next year. It’s estimated that the state will collect $137 million more than it is allowed to spend under TABOR. There is also about $30 million in marijuana tax revenue that the state cannot spend without voter approval.

The legislature has several options to address the surplus and has used each of them in the six times TABOR has required action since it was passed by voters in 1992.

We have recently suffered bombardment by the most despicable, disgusting, demonizing political ads imaginable for most of this past year. I don’t want my TV viewing and radio listening co-opted by wealthy political interests in future election years. Discussions with friends, family and neighbors overwhelmingly indicate that I am not alone.

In what was arguably the best election night for Republicans since 1994, Colorado’s reputation as a very purple state has remained intact.

Republicans made huge gains across the country. They picked up at least seven seats, including Colorado’s, in the U.S. Senate to take control of that body. They increased their majority in the U.S. House by at least 10 seats. They won several governor races, and Republican governors will now be in place in 31 states. They achieved significant gains in state legislatures around the country.

As my term in office approaches its final days, I’m experiencing a great deal of personal reflection. I’m sure everyone goes through a similar process of recounting how they reacted to a situation or event, sorting out in their mind if they could have done something different — while recalling the successes and failures along the way.

Olli Maatta, a 20-year-old hockey player from Finland, was living the dream. A year ago, he broke into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup as a teenager and became one of their regular defensemen, and he was widely recognized as being among the National Hockey League’s top rookies.

As residents of House District 25 and as current and former members of the Colorado House of Representatives and Colorado Senate, we are writing to add our voices to the growing number of people in our community who are proudly supporting Jon Keyser for Colorado state representative.